Sacramento Kings moving franchise to the OC, CA.

If you've followed the NBA during Stern's regime and you don't think something is going on in regards to the draft lottery and altering the way certain playoff games are called, you probably also believe in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause.

I know one former NBA GM who used to refer to Stern as Dr. Evil and I know another who called him The Puppetmaster.

Right before the draft lottery one year, I was interviewing one of the top execs from the local team and I asked him if he was feeling particularly optimistic going into the lottery and on the record he said everything he's supposed to say.

Then, he leaned in and said, "Off the record, we don't have a chance in hell. It will be this team or this team that gets the No. 1 pick."

Neither of those teams were among the "favorites" to win the lottery and they wound up picking 1-2.

 

You know, the Sprint Center needs a team...

 

I call complete BS on this and if not you should have written the story and exposed the "puppetmaster". David Stern must be the most powerful man in the world to keep the thousands and thousands quiet it would take to pull this shit off.

I have no doubt at times there have been refs who have "managed" games but the level of conspiracy that gets tossed around is ridiculous.

 

Considering the lack of coverage of the Donaghy scandal, I don't think there is anything Stern can't control.

This should have been considered one of the biggest sports scandals of most of our lifetimes and while it did get a bit of coverage, it was nothing compared to what it should have been.

You'll have to forgive me for honoring what a GM or a team exec tells me off the record.

 

So why not dig a little deeper and write the big story, if this is true?

 

There are a lot of reporters a hell of a lot better than me who have tried to write that story and just ran into a wall. I know for a fact that a ESPN writer was working on the story and just couldn't get enough for it to run.

League execs are scared shitless of Stern.

You might be able to get Mark Cuban on the record saying something derogatory about him, but if that's the only person who will say anything on the record, your story still has no credibility.

I don't even think the owners and execs "know" that something is fishy, but it says a lot that they think it is. I doubt you get that with the other big three sports at all.

 

LOL!!!!

 

Only so many places to move teams. I'm betting Oklahoma City will run into issues 5-10 years down the road.

 

You know, Mizzou, it's rather amazing how many of these "shocking revelation made off the record by bigwig to only you" type stories you've shared over the years. The first few times they're pretty damn interesting, but by the 100th version the BS detectors have begun squawking.

 

I think you'd be surprised at the stories most beat writers can tell that they could never write. By no stretch of the imagination do I think I've heard anything that hasn't been heard by anybody who has covered the beats that I covered.

 

Attendance in Memphis, the next most recent relocated franchise, has been going down year by year. They'll be on the wing within 5 years too, unless (like OKC) they luck into a Hall-of-Fame caliber player and get real good real fast. They've improved to mid-level decency, but not enough to really ignite the fan base.

 

Memphis' big problem is that it is a poor city surrounded by even poorer countryside.